Not Quite a Movie
by suburbs
Summary: If this was a movie, she would be sitting on the floor with her back against the wall crying, and he would leave the dance to find her. But this wasn't a movie, it was real life. And real life sucked.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Starstruck._

_A/N: I really wanted Stubby and Sara to have their own moment at the end of the movie, so I decided to write one myself. They may be a little out of character because there wasn't a lot to work with._

_Dedication: For Hayley because she said she would read a Sara/Stubby if I wrote it. And I expect she will be the only one who does._

Sara narrowed her eyes and glared at her blond ex-best friend. Part of her felt like she should be a little upset that her baby sister was currently gazing lovingly into the eyes of Christopher Wilde, her longtime obsession, but at this moment that wasn't even on her radar. She was too busy fuming as she watched half the girls at her school fawn all over Stubby.

And she had clearly seen him first.

As AJ batted her eyelashes up at the grinning rapper and placed her hand on his arm, Sara turned and stomped out of the gym. She was way too cool for this dance anyway. Or at least that was what she was going to keep telling herself because standing outside the girls' locker room pouting over a guy was pathetic.

If this was a movie, she would be sitting on the floor with her back against the wall crying, and he would leave the dance to find her. But this was real life, and her dress was way too nice to ruin by sitting on the filthy, high school concrete floor. And guys didn't run after her. Apparently they flew half-way across the country to see her sister, but she was pretty sure no one even knew she had left the stupid dance.

She couldn't believe that after wasting so much time and energy on a celebrity she had never met, she had to go and fall for the one guy most likely to be repulsed by her past behavior. Admittedly, he had been really sweet the day he drove her home from Christopher's house, so sweet that she had secretly hoped he would ask for her phone number or invite her to do something. But of course he hadn't. Instead he had to show up at her school and be cute and perfect and make her even more aware of what she couldn't have. Her life was definitely not like the movies.

Arms crossed, she stood glaring at the lockers in front of her and decided that real life sucked.

"There you are," she heard a deep voice say.

Or maybe life wasn't so bad, she thought as she looked up into the most beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen.

"Here I am," she replied with a small smile, nervously smoothing down her black dress.

She saw Stubby glance around the empty hallway. "So what are you doing out here?" He asked.

Not wanting to admit the real reason she had left the dance, she waved her hand airily, "Oh, you know; just getting some fresh air. It was sort of stuffy in there."

Stubby raised an eyebrow at her and took a deep breath. "Ah, the refreshing smell of old lunches and sweaty gym socks. I can totally see why you prefer it out here."

She rolled her eyes at him, but before she could come up with a clever retort, he looked at her carefully and asked, "Are you upset because Chris is dating your sister? Cause if that's the case, I can see why you wouldn't want to stay in there and watch them be all lovey-dovey."

Sara grit her teeth, angry that he thought that she would be anything less than happy for her sister. It also stung a little because it was one more reason that he would never like her - he obviously wouldn't have any interest in a girl he thought could be outside moping over some guy she had never actually met before.

"Of course not," Sara snapped. "I'll have you know that I resigned from the Christopher Wilde fan club and stopped reading his blog as soon as I realized he had done something to hurt my sister. I mean, she wouldn't tell any of us what happened, but it didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out he had done something stupid. Even the paparazzi could tell his story was complete bull or they would have left her alone as soon as he made his bogus announcement."

"You stopped reading his blog?"

She nodded, her chest still heaving from her rant.

"That totally explains the recent drop in hits to the website," Stubby said with a grin.

"You're not funny," Sara trying to hide the grin that showed her words didn't match her actual feelings. Stupid boy. Why did he have to be so adorable?

"Are you kidding? I'm hilarious," he retorted. When she rolled her eyes, he smiled at her again and said more seriously. "If you aren't out here because of my buddy Chris, then what's wrong? Fight with a friend? Boy break your heart?"

"Something like that," she mumbled.

"Which one?" He pressed.

"A little of both."

This was technically true. She currently wasn't speaking to her best friend (or ex-best friend, she was still deciding). It was one thing for Sara to make fun of Jessica, but no one else could talk about her little sister like that. And while it was a good sign that Stubby had noticed she was gone, it could be because she was the only person besides Christopher he knew at the dance; and Christopher clearly didn't want to hang out with his friend at the moment.

"Want to talk about it?"

"I really, really don't," she answered fervently.

"Why not? I promise I'm a good listener," he said, obviously turning on the charm in an attempt to get her to talk.

"You already must think I'm pathetic; I don't need to make it worse by dumping my stupid problems on you." She could feel the tears starting to well up behind her eyes at the thought of how he must see her.

"I don't think you're pathetic," he replied, sounding confused.

"Of course you do," she retorted. "I'm just another crazy fan-girl who followed your friend around. Even I cringe when I think about how I used to act, so I can't even blame you for thinking I'm nuts." As she warmed up to her subject, she almost forgot who she was talking to. "And what makes it worse is that even though I've changed, I know that there is no way that you'll ever take me seriously, which sucks because I really like you." Her eyes went wide when she realized what she had just admitted.

There was a long moment of silence as Stubby stood there staring at her. Finally he blinked and asked, "What did you just say?"

"Nothing," she answered quickly, hoping for an easy way out. "I didn't say anything."

"Yes you did. You said you liked me."

"No I didn't," she insisted.

"I'm fairly certain you did," he insisted. "I always pay close attention was a pretty girl announces she likes me."

Her eyes went wide and she felt a little flutter in her stomach. "You think I'm pretty?"

He took a step closer to her. "Of course I do. You may be a little crazy, but you're definitely pretty."

She frowned and took a step back. There it was – he thought she was crazy. She knew it.

And then he smiled gently at her. "That was supposed to be a joke."

"Telling me I'm pretty?"

"No! Saying that you're crazy. I was joking."

She frowned again. "Oh."

"Obviously it was funnier in my mind than in reality."

"I'm pretty sure that when a girl's freaking out, it's never a good idea to tell her she's crazy, even as a joke," she observed.

"Point take. I apologize." He smiled at her and held out a hand. "How about we go back into the dance, and I'll make it up to you."

She hesitated a moment before asking, "And how are you going to make it up to me?"

Shrugging, he answered, "I don't know. Get you a glass of punch maybe. Or ask you to dance. Or point out how lovely you look in that dress and ask if you want to go see a movie with me tomorrow. Something like that."

She smiled and tentatively reached out and took his hand. "That actually sounds nice."

"Which one?"

"All of them," she said as he guided he back towards the gym.

"Excellent!" He said with a grin. "Then we have a plan."

She hesitated a moment right before they entered the gym. Looking up at him, she asked the one question that she knew would bother her all night if she didn't ask. "Are you sure you don't think I'm pathetic? It doesn't bother you that I used to…" She trailed off without finishing the sentence.

"Sara, if I refused to date any girl that ever had a thing for Christopher Wilde, I'd have a hard time finding anyone to go out with." She thought she saw a hint of a blush as he added, "Besides, you didn't really think I came all the way to Kalamazoo just to rap at some random high school dance, did you? I sort of hoped you might be glad to see me again."

All of a sudden, Sara felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her chest. She grinned and squeezed Stubby's hand. "Well, then, let's go dance, Mr. Stubbins."

"By all means, Ms. Olson."

And as Stubby held her hand and led her past a very jealous looking AJ, Sara felt just like a heroine in a movie. Except it was even better because it was real.


End file.
